At the preemptory request of a large number of the citizens of these United States, I, Joshua Norton, formerly of Algoa Bay, Cape of Good Hope, and for the past nine years and ten months of San Francisco, California, declare and proclaim myself Emperor of these United States, and in virtue of the authority in me vested, do hereby order and direct the representatives of the different states of the Union to assemble in the music hall of this city on the 1st day of February next, then and there to make such alterations in the existing laws of the Union as may ameliorate the evils under which the country is laboring, and thereby cause confidence to exist, both at home and abroad, in our stability and integrity. signed, Norton I, Emperor of the United States.